As a central site for this year's Super Bowl festivities, Indianapolis' downtown "village" sometimes surged with the energy of New York's Times Square. By contrast, for its bowl in 2011, North Texas parceled out events between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Miami and New Orleans — beaches and Bourbon Street — have been idealized Super Bowl hosts for decades.

But it appears the Midwestern racing capital Indianapolis has created a template that future hosts and hopefuls, including North Texas, need to at least consider. Inspired by the walkable Super Bowl village that accompanied February’s game, NFL officials are studying whether to require similar focal points for activity in the future.

“It energized the city. It energized the Super Bowl and made it much more of a community-based event,” said Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman. “We’re looking into ways we can replicate that in the future.”

In Indianapolis, that meant turning three blocks of downtown into a pedestrian village that drew more than 1.1 million people. The packed streets — lit by fireworks at night — looked at times like a section of Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

Next year in New Orleans, organizers will create a pedestrian “Super Bowl Boulevard” connecting attractions.

In 2011, North Texas’ first Super Bowl had much of its activity scattered to various points along a 35-mile stretch of Interstate 30 — rebranded as the “Super Bowl Highway” — running from Fair Park in Dallas to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. The region could start bidding for its second Super Bowl as early as this year.

McCarthy said the Super Bowl village concept is not mandatory and is still in the planning stages. He said the league is also trying to determine “what it could look like.” But McCarthy said this wouldn’t preclude hosts from taking a regional approach, as in the Dallas, Miami and Phoenix areas.

Bob Estrada, a member of the North Texas Super Bowl host committee, which is still active on a smaller scale, said it is too early to know what effect the Indianapolis model might have on another local bid.

“It’s very much an evolving process, and I’m not privy to what the higher ups at the NFL are thinking,” he said.

Estrada said the committee hasn’t discussed the Super Bowl village idea, but he said it’s something they would need to consider. But he said NFL plans could also change by the time North Texas bids again.

“I’m not going to prejudge at this early of a stage that we’re going to be guided by anything that was done this year or even trying to do the same things in North Texas that we did the year before,” Estrada said.

If such a centralized space is required by the NFL, it’s not clear where it would be for another North Texas Super Bowl. Downtown Dallas has more facilities, but downtown Fort Worth has pedestrian-friendly Sundance Square.

NFL officials have said they plan to choose the stadiums that would be allowed to bid for Super Bowl L in 2016. Dallas Cowboys officials have already notified the league that they want to bid for that 50th game.

‘An energy center’

Allison Melangton, president and CEO of the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl host committee, said she’s pleased that the panel’s work inspired the NFL. The phrase that’s emerged from the league’s public statements is that it’s looking for a place where the “Super Bowl lives.”

“They liked having an energy center,” Melangton said, using her own description of downtown Indianapolis. “It’s a place where people can go and feel like they were really touching the Super Bowl even though they didn’t have a game ticket.”

North Texas’ Super Bowl XLV host committee also focused on engaging fans that didn’t have tickets, but it focused as much on one centralized location.

For the Indianapolis Super Bowl, a three-block-wide strip of downtown was closed to traffic in some areas for 10 days or more. That Super Bowl Village included a zip-line ride — which became one of the signature attractions — as well as an inflatable dome with video games, nightly fireworks displays and a pair of entertainment stages featuring more than 70 bands.

Adjacent to the village were the NFL Experience, Lucas Oil Stadium and major TV broadcast sites. This also was within a few blocks of the Media Center and NFL headquarters hotel.

Sam Joffray, co-executive director of the New Orleans Super Bowl XLVII host committee, said fans will see similar ideas next year. He said the city’s “Super Bowl Boulevard” will link tourist attractions in the French Quarter to the NFL Experience at the convention center. He said public spaces between those two zones would receive Super Bowl branding and would also be the site for the giant Roman numerals.

“It was a successful model in Indianapolis, and the NFL is taking it to the next level,” Joffray said.

Dallas attractions

Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that he’s happy to cooperate on the Super Bowl with the rest of the region but that Dallas could also take the lead if necessary.

“If they’re looking for a compressed, compact sort of venue to limit some of the back-and-forth travel … then we certainly are well-positioned to take advantage of that,” he said. “We have a number of options that we could put in play that could be as equally compelling as what they were able do in Indianapolis.”

Jones noted there are or will be new attractions that change the landscape of downtown, including the new Omni convention center hotel and the Woodall Rodgers deck park.

Dallas could get a taste of something similar in two years when the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four is played at Cowboys Stadium.

Brett Daniels, a Cowboys spokesman, said the fan festival called Bracket Town — similar to the NFL Experience — would be held at the Dallas Convention Center in 2014. He said the NCAA likes to have its outdoor Big Dance music festival and block party adjacent to the Bracket Town venue.

Fort Worth’s appeal

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said she thinks her city might be in the running for a Super Bowl village. The day before last year’s Super Bowl, traffic was jammed heading into downtown Fort Worth as Sundance Square filled up. It was also the site of ESPN’s outdoor broadcast facility.

“One of our downtown folks reminded us that the term ‘walkable Super Bowl village’ actually originated over here,” Price said.

She said that no matter where official events are, there are still plenty of parties and activities to go around and benefit the entire region. But that doesn’t mean she’s willing to concede to Dallas.

“We’re very confident where we stand,” Price said. “We’re very confident that we can compete as well and that we can cooperate as well.”

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